Furnace



J. B. MILLER May 7-, 1929.

FURNACE Filed Aug. 19, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet y 7, 1929- J. B. MILLER 1,711,802

FURNACE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 7 1929.

UNITED STATES JAMES B. MILLER, on sat. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

FURNACE;

' Application filed August 19, 1925. Serial No. 51,196.

This invention relates to furnaces for heating articles and more particularly to such furnaces as may be used for heating articles in preparation for forging operations.

One of the objects of this invention 1s to provide a furnace in which a number of articles may be delivered as required ready for the forging or similar operation.

Another object is to provide such a furnace to which the articles may be fed in succession and from which they may be delivered when thoroughly heated. Another object is to provide a furnace to whicharticles may be delivered successively from a stack of articles to be heated'and deliver-ed as required for subsequent operations.

Further objects will appear from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a furnace embodying this invention Figure 2 is an end view taken from the right hand end of Figure l;

Figure 3 is an end viewfrom the left hand end of Figure 1;

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of part of the delivery chute;

Figure .5 is a transverse section of the hearth taken about on line5-5 of Figure 1; and I Figure 6 is a detail plan view of the feeding mechanism. 1

Referring to the accompanying drawings 1 designates a support or' frame which may be constructed of angle iron suitably framed together and on which is mounted a hearth 2. The hearth 2 may be constructed of cast iron or other suitable material" in the form offa long hollow casting having a flue 3 extend ing lengthwise therethrough. The hearth2 is provided with an upper inclined surface 1 upon which the articles to be heated may rest and along which they may be moved during the heating operation. At the'lower edge of the inclined surface 4' there isformed a right angled face 5 adapted-to provide a guide for the articles moving over the hearth.

At the rear or right hand end, Figure 1, of I the hearth 2 an opening in the lower face provides an inlet to the flue? to which the spout 6 of a blower 7 may be attached. The blower 7 may be driven by a suitable motor 8 and delivers air through the spout 6 to the flue 3. The air passing through this flue serves to cool the hearth so as to keep the same from overheating. At the forward end of the hearth the flue 3 has an outlet 9 to which may be attached an air duct 10 in the form of a pipe or tube which passes to the air inlet of a suitable burner 11. The burner 11 may be of any suitable type. In the illustration it is represented as an oil burner having suitable connections 12 with a source of oil supply. It will be noted that the air delivered to the burner is first passed through the flue 3 whereby the hearth is cooled and the air is heated preparatory to delivering the same to the burner 11. A suitable furnace chamber or muffle 13 is built over the hearth 2 and is articles are preferably stacked, one upon the other, in the chute with the lower-most arv ticle resting on the upper surface 4: of the hearth. Slidably mounted in the rear of the chute 15 and'so' as to slide over the surface 1 of the health is a thrust'bar 16. The bar 16 is perforated at itsrear end to receive one arm 17 of a bell crank lever, the other arm 18,

of which is connected by a link 19 with an' arm 20 fixed to a treadle shaft 21 provided with a foot treadle 22. Thearm 20 is held in raised position by a spring 23 whichalso maintains the bar 16 in its'rearward position asshown in Figure 1.

' When the articles are stacked in the chute 15 the lowest one rests upon the hearth just in front-of the thrust bar 16. Bypressing downwardly on the treadle 22, the arm2Q is rocked downwardly which, through the, connection 19, rocks the bell crank 18, 17 so as to move'the bar 16 forwardly. In this move ment, as will be seen from Figure 6 the bar 16 movesv the lower-most article out from under the stack and along the hearth. When vthe treadle 22 is released thespring 28 will draw the parts back to their original position and the bar '16 will be driven out from beneath the stack, allowing the same to drop so as to place another article on the hearth and before the bar 16. As this operation is repeated the articles are fed successively from and moved forwardly along the discnarge end of the hearth. The guide 5 tern'iinates somewhat short of the end of the hearth and at this point the downward eX- tension of the surface 4: provides a discharge gate 2% from which the end-most article may slide off of the hearth when moved to this point by the successive crowding of the articles following. Suitably attached to the hearth at this point and arranged to receive the articles discharged fromthe gate 24 is an inclined chute 25. In certain classes of articles such as those illustrated in the drawings which represent machine tool cutters, it is desirable to have the articles delivered in oriented position, so that they may easily be taken from the delivery chute and transferred for subsequent operations. Such articles may have a body 26 and a laterally extending tip 27. Accordingly the chute 25 is provided with a guide or cam 28 having a warped or twisted form adapted to be engaged by the tip 27 or other laterally extending part as the article slides down the chute and, by raising this tip, to turn the article in the chute to the oriented position with the tip upstandingasillustrated in Figure 8. The chute may be provided with side notches 29 at its end adapted to expose a substantial portion of the article so that it may be gripped with tongs in order to remove the same from the chute for subsequent operations.

In order to assist in guiding the articles in their movement along the hearth and to retain them in place on the hearth a movable guard 30 is hinged at 31 to the hearth. This guard extends over part of the surface 4 so that the other tip of the articles will move underneath the guard and be prevented from rising and becoming dislodged from the hearth. When not required, the guard 30 may be turned on its hinge to inoperative position below the top of the hearth.

It will be seen, therefore, that this invention provides a convenient and economical V furnace for heating such articles as tool cutters and the like. The operator stacks a supply of articles in the chute l5 and feeds the same successively over the hearth. The flame of the burner ll is directed on the hearth and heats the articles in their passage thereover. By the time the first article has moved the length of the hearth, it has become thoroughly heated and is ready for delivery. The oper-' ator may then press the'treadle 22 downwardly so as to operate the bar 16 to move anotherarticle onto the hearth and at the same time force the foremost article into the gate 2 f from which it slides downwardly into the chute 25. During such movement the guide 28 operates to turn the article which is then delivered to the end of the chute 25 in oriented position to be taken out by the operator and transferred to such machine as is to perform a subsequent operation thereon. When the operation is in full swing the articles will be moved across made in the details of construction without 7 departing from the spirit of this invention; it is to be understood, therefore, that this invention is not to be limited to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A furnace for heating article's, comprising, a hearth, means for directing a flame on said hearth, means for moving the articles successively over saidhearth, and a device at the end of saidhearth positioned to receive the heated articles for movement endwise there along, said device having means engaging the article to positively turn the'saine about its longitudinal axis during such endwise movement, in order to deliver the article inadefinitely oriented position.

2. A furnace for heating articles,comprising, a hearth, means for directing a flame on said hearth, means for moving the articles successively over said hearth, and a delivery chute at the end of said hearth positioned to receive the heated articles for movement endwise therealong, the side of said chute being formed to engage the article along the side thereof in order to positively turn the same about its longitudinal axis during such endwise movement, in order to deliver the article in. a definitely oriented position.

3. A furnace for heating articles,comprising, a hearth having one side lower than the other and having a guide therealong, means for moving the articles over said hearth and along said guide, a guard along said hearth adapted to retain the articles thereon, and means for directing a flame on said hearth to heat the articles. I i

4. A furnace for heating articles, comprising, an inclined hearth having a guide therealong, means for moving the articles over said hearth and along said guide, a movable v guard along said hearth adapted to retain the 7 articles thereon, and means for directing a flame on said hearth to heat the articles.

5. A furnace for heating articles, comprisin a hearth having one side lower than the other, and having a guide along thelowerside thereof, means for moving the articles over said hearth and along said guide, aguard along said hearth adapted to retainthe articles thereon, and means for directing a flame on said hearth to heat the articles,

6. A furnace for heating articles, comprising a hearth having one side lower than the other, and having a guide therealong, means for moving the articles over said hearth and along said guide, a guard along the lower side of said hearth adapted to retain the articles thereon, and means for directing a flame on said hearth to heat the articles.

7. A furnace for heating articles, comprising a hearth having one side thereof lower than the other and having a guide therealong, means for moving the articles over said hearth and along said guide, a'movable guard along the lower side of said hearth and above said guide, adapted. to retain the articles thereon, and means for directing the flame on said hearth to heat the articles.

8. A furnace for heating tool cutters and like articles, each having a body and a laterally extending lug, a chute adapted to receive and hold a stack of the articles, a hearth, means for feeding the articles one at a time from the bottom of the stack to said hearth to be moved therealong by feeding succeeding articles, means for heating the articles on said hearth, and means adapted to deliver the heated articles with their lugs in oriented position. Y

9. A furnace for heating tool cutters and like article s, each having a body and a lat erally extending lug, an inclined chute adapted to receive and hold a stack of the articles,'

an inclined hearth, means for feeding the articles one at a time from the bottom of the stack to said hearth to be moved therealong by feeding succeeding articles, means for heating the articles on said hearth, and means adapted to deliver the heated articles with their lugs in oriented position.

10. A furnace for heating tool cutters and like articles, each having abody and a laterally extending lug, an inclined chute adapted to receive and hold a-stack of the articles, an inclined hearth, means'tor feeding the articles one at a time from the bottom 01": the stack to said hearth to be moved therealong by feeding succeeding articles, a guardalong said hearth covering the lower ends of the articles thereon, means for heating the articles on' said hearth, and means adapted to deliverthe heated articles With their lugs in oriented position. i

11; A furnace for heating tool cutters and like articles, each having a body and a laterally ezitending lug, a chute adapted to receive and hold a stack of the articles, a hearth, means for feeding the articles one at a'time from the bottom of the stack to said hearth to be moved therealong by feeding succeeding articles, means for heating the articles on said hearth, and means for delivering the articles adapted to turn the same to oriented position.

12. A furnace for heating tool cutters and like articles, each having a body and a laterally extending'lug, a chute adapted to receive and hold a stack of the articles, a hearth, means for feeding the articles one at a time from the bottom of the stackto said hearth to be moved therealong by feeding succeeding articles, meansfor heating the articles on said hearth, and means adapted to deliverthe articles with their lugs up.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature this 23rd day of June, 1925.

JAMES MILLER. 

